Borgia


Book Description




Literature and the Image of Man


Book Description

This volume's predominant theme is bourgeois mentality and its historical development. The works of Lope de Vega, Calderon, Cervantes, and Shakespeare, among others, are analysed within the historical framework of the decline of feudalism and the rise of the absolute regimes. Those of Moliere and Goethe are set against the background of an evolving and consolidating bourgeois society in Western Europe.




The Borgia Family


Book Description

The Borgia Family: Rumor and Representation explores the historical and cultural structures that underpin the early modern Borgia family, their notoriety, and persistence and reinvention in the popular imagination. The book balances studies focusing on early modern observations of the Borgias and studies deconstructing later incarnations on the stage, on the page, on the street, and on the screen. It reveals how contemporary observers, later authors and artists, and generations of historians reinforced and perpetuated both rumor and reputation, ultimately contributing to the Borgia Black Legend and its representations. Focused on the deeds and posthumous reputations of Pope Alexander VI and his children, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, the volume charts the choices made by the family and contextualizes them amid contemporary expectations and reactions. Extending beyond their deaths, it also investigates how the Borgias became emblems of anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish criticism in the later early modern period and their residing reputation as the best and worst of the Renaissance. Exploring a spectrum of traditional and modern media, The Borgia Family contextualizes both Borgia deeds and their modern representations to analyze the family’s continuing history and meaning in the twenty-first century. It will be of great interest to researchers and students working on interdisciplinary aspects of the Renaissance and early modern Italy.







Light on Lucrezia


Book Description

Some said she was an elegant seductress. Others swore she was an incestuous murderess. It didn’t matter what they called her. She was the most dangerous and sought-after woman in all of Rome. She was Lucrezia Borgia. Born into Rome’s notorious Borgia family, young Lucrezia led a life colored by violence and betrayal. Now, married for the second time at just eighteen, she hopes for happiness with her handsome husband, Alfonso. But faced with brutal murder, she’s soon torn between her love for her husband and her devotion to her brother Cesare . . . And in the days when the Borgias ruled Italy, no one was safe from the long arm of their power. Even Lucrezia. In this compelling story of a beautiful woman caught up in a tortuous web of fear and love, Jean Plaidy sheds light on the much maligned Lucrezia and vividly brings her to life.




Swordsmen of the Screen


Book Description

This fascinating study of the genre of swashbuckling films received wide critical acclaim when it was first published in 1977. Jeffrey Richards assesses the contributions to the genre of directors, designers and fencing masters, as well as of the stars themselves, and devotes several chapters to the principal subjects if the swashbucklers – pirates, highwaymen, cavaliers and knights. The result is to recall, however fleetingly, the golden days of the silver screen. Reviews of the original edition: ‘An intelligent, scholarly, well-written account of adventure films, this work is sensitive both to cinema history and to the literary origins of the "swashbuckler"....Essential for any library with books on film, it may very well be the definitive book on its subject.’ – Library Journal




Delphi Poetical Works of Ludovico Ariosto - Complete Orlando Furioso (Illustrated)


Book Description

The Italian Renaissance poet Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem ‘Orlando Furioso’ is one of the most influential works of world poetry, celebrated for its instrumental role in establishing humanism. The Delphi Poets Series offers readers the works of literature's finest poets, with superior formatting. This volume presents the complete ‘Orlando Furioso’, in both English and the original Italian, with beautiful illustrations, special dual text feature and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Ariosto's life and works * Concise introductions to the epic poems * Includes Matteo Maria Boiardo's ‘Orlando Innamorato’, which inspired Ariosto to continue the tale in ‘Orlando Furioso’ * Images of how the poetry books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original Renaissance texts * ‘Orlando Furioso’ is fully illustrated with Gustave Doré’s celebrated artwork * Excellent formatting of the poems * Easily locate the cantos and sections you want to read * Provides a special dual English and Italian text, allowing readers to compare ‘Orlando Furioso’ stanza by stanza – ideal for students * Features two biographies - discover Ariosto's literary life * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Epic Poems ORLANDO INNAMORATO by Matteo Maria Boiardo ORLANDO FURIOSO The Italian Text CONTENTS OF THE ITALIAN TEXT The Dual Text CONTENTS OF THE DUAL TEXT The Biographies BRIEF BIOGRAPHY: LODOVICO ARIOSTO ARIOSTO: CRITICAL NOTICE OF HIS LIFE AND GENIUS by Leigh Hunt Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles




Robert Walser


Book Description

The Swiss writer Robert Walser (1878-1956) is now recognized as one of the most important European authors of the modernist period, having garnered high praise from such prominent voices as Susan Sontag, W. G. Sebald, and J. M. Coetzee. Robert Walser: A Companion is the first comprehensive guide to Walser’s work in English. The twelve essays in this collection examine Walser’s literary output, historical milieu, and idiosyncratic writing process, addressing aspects of his biography; discussing the various genres in which he wrote (the novel, short prose, drama, lyric poetry, and letters); and analyzing his best-known novels and short stories alongside lesser-known but no less fascinating poems, plays, and prose pieces. An essential addition to the scholarship about this eccentric, prolific, and influential writer’s work, Robert Walser: A Companion will be of interest both to established scholars and to those coming to Walser for the first time.




The Orlando Furioso


Book Description




Encyclopedia of German Literature


Book Description

Designed to provide English readers of German literature the opportunity to familiarize themselves with both the established canon and newly emerging literatures that reflect the concerns of women and ethnic minorities, the Encyclopedia of German Literature includes more than 500 entries on writers, individual work, and topics essential to an understanding of this rich literary tradition. Drawing on the expertise of an international group of experts, the essays in the encyclopedia reflect developments of the latest scholarship in German literature, culture, and history and society. In addition to the essays, author entries include biographies and works lists; and works entries provide information about first editions, selected critical editions, and English-language translations. All entries conclude with a list of further readings.